Day of un-fasting

Ying and Yang. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. He giveth and He taketh away.

Fasting removed the vendors from our streets, and put the cars on it. During the fast, Muslims wake around 3 AM and eat before 5 AM. No point in sitting around the house, so they head into work. Because fasting ends around 6 PM, they want to get home in time to break fast. This means they leave the office at 4 PM. My 45 minute commute from office to home took 90 minutes today. My understanding is this only lasts the first week, and then everyone heads back to the village and clears the streets.

The only other change at the office was the erection of privacy screens in the cafeteria so that casual wanderers by don't see anyone eating. I was a little surprised to see the little street vendors peddling bottles of water at 4:30. As 6 PM approached, the vendors started flooding the streets and selling food in take-out containers to the cars stuck in traffic. I would be interested to know if this time of year is as lucrative for the local merchants as Christmas is for retailers in the US.